Caitlin Whyte (Host): This is One-on-One with Regional One Health, your inside look at how we're building healthier tomorrows for our patients and our community. Join us as we get to know some of the individuals who help provide lifesaving and life changing care for our community.

I'm your host, Caitlin Whyte. Today, Ashley Moy is joining me. She's the Co-Founder and CEO of Cast21. We will talk about her company's journey with Regional One Health Center for Innovation. Cast21 developed a waterproof alternative to traditional casts for bone and joint injuries, and has been working with Regional One Health to evaluate their product in a real world environment.

Well, Ashley, can you start out by telling us about Cast21? What inspired you to co-found this company and what does your innovative product do for patients and healthcare providers?

Ashley Moy: Absolutely. So our company Cast21 creates products that change the way that we protect and care for our bones and joints. Our Co-founder has actually been in over 65 casts and braces in his lifetime. So we really wanted to make something better for him when he would need another product. And during that process, we were getting feedback from a bunch of different people and different ecosystems, and realized that there was a huge gap in the market for something that was fit for the modern day medical practice and for today's patient, and so we developed a waterproof, lightweight, comfortable alternative to a cast or a brace for broken bones in a way that could still be simple, efficient, and clean and safe for doctors and healthcare professionals to use.

Host: I love it. Well, how did you guys get involved with the Center for Innovation at Regional One Health?

Ashley Moy: We got involved with the Center for Innovation at Regional One Health through a referral program that the city of Memphis and their partners run. So the Zero to 510 accelerator program is run through Launch Tennessee and Starco was the host organization, I believe it's Epicenter Memphis now.

And they did a wonderful job connecting us to different ecosystem players within the Memphis community who really harbor and foster a spirit of innovation. One of those partners was Regional One, and so we got to talking just as the program was kicking off and we actually became the Center of Innovation's first partner for their program.

Host: And can you tell us about your process with the Center for Innovation? What types of experiences have you had while partnering with them?

Ashley Moy: We learned so much partnering with the center of innovation. They called it an access incubator, and it certainly was extraordinarily helpful to have that level of access. This is the first company that I had ever started, and so we really didn't know what we didn't know when we were getting started. It was really interesting and eyeopening to have so many people who live and breathe healthcare, be able to walk us through all of the important things to consider as we were building our company, because we don't just manufacture products. We fit into this larger puzzle of Healthcare.

Host: And how does the Center for Innovation Benefit Healthcare Startups in general? And how specifically has it helped Cast 21? 

Ashley Moy: Oh my goodness. They are so fantastic and flexible, I would say to anyone interested in the program. They are able to help you in whatever ways you know you need help and didn't know you needed assistance. For example, with Cast21, we approached the program very interested in getting clinical feedback on our technology, and the whole organization really helped us get our very first clinical data ever working with their sister organizations, with their existing care teams, and we got to see the entire process and we got assistance with the entire process of doing clinical research, which was absolutely phenomenal. They also assisted us with understanding everything that sits around our product as well, from insurance to communications, to product storage, everything, training that touched the product or indirectly interacted with the product.

 Patient waiting, portal access. Everything, that had to do with the system and as I mentioned, it was the very first time we had ever been exposed to this information. One at this deep of level, and two, also succinctly. I mean, I've seen a lot of other healthcare startups really struggle to get all this information from various different sources, and this program was absolutely helpful in accelerating that process.

Host: Well, it sounds like a really lucrative partnership. And my last question for you today, what are your company's next steps and goals for the future? And what role do you think Regional One Health and the Center for Innovation will play in all that?

Ashley Moy: We are very excited to be rolling out new versions of our product, new product lines, a lot of new exciting markets and partnerships to announce pretty soon as well. And I hope, and I'm excited to keep Regional One and the Center for Innovation very closely linked to all of the new exciting things we're doing.

Host: Beautiful. Well, thank you so much, Ashley, for doing this work and for joining us on the show.

Learn more about the Center for Innovation at Regional One Health by visiting innovation.regionalonehealth.org. Thanks for making One-on-One with

Caitlin Whyte (Host): Regional One Health,

Host: part of your journey to better health. And join us next time as we introduce you to another member of the Regional One Health Family.